How To Storytell: Setup | Blood on the Clocktower

A beginner's guide for how to set up a game of Blood on the Clocktower as the Storyteller.
For other How to Play videos, please see:
How to Play - • How to Play | Blood on...
How to Storytell: The Night - • How To Storytell: The ...
How to Storytell: The Day - • How To Storytell: The ...
Find out more or purchase the game at
bloodontheclocktower.com/

[@doughall6131]

Just had my first go at storytelling made a few minor mistakes that were easy to correct with an entirely new group of first time players. Looking forward to running more. Great video!

[@q-tuber7034]

Grimoire, check. Stapler, check.

[@_r0tt3nxxmm2_]

I am a online story teller lol

[@liampena1340]

Have fun packing after the game!

[@darbyl3872]

My best tip for ST's: Keep your right hand away from your left hand, and gesture slowly. Otherwise, you can easily knock the Grim onto the floor :-(

[@chriswallace5338]

Great video - a must watch before doing storytelling! Can’t wait to start running in person games.

[@j.r.cilliangreen4083]

Having run a few in person on our homemade grim…it is so much more incredible in person. When my real one comes in…these games are going to get so good!!!! The excitement rises!!!!

[@TheWobbinator1]

Just bought my own copy of the game. Can't wait to storytell for the first time.

[@Pinstripedood]

Very helpful, thank you!

[@LogicUnpublishable]

my copy of the game is en route and i cant wait to start playing irl

[@A1D3NA1D3N]

It's Sully From No Roll Bard!! 0:37

[@kashifbidassy5450]

Lol... Holly is also on NRB

[@jorisweyen7934]

At 2:24 they pretty much show you the best character setup for your very first game.

[@GameBrigade]

those are very powerful roles for the townsfolk

[@martayharmay]

Do you have to choose the drunk before putting characters in the bag, or can you choose once you know where everyone is sat? For example, I might want to make an Empath drunk if they happen to be sat next to the imp, especially if the imp is a new player?

[@BloodontheClocktower]

Hey Marty, thanks for the question. You don't need to choose the Drunk before the roles go in the bag. You just need to make sure that there's one extra Townsfolk token and one less Outsider token than there should be in the game, and you can pick who the Drunk is once you see who everyone is and how the roles are positioned. I'll sometimes have a drunk in mind when choosing roles for the game, but might change things up if a particularly juicy setup presents itself that would benefit from a different drunk. - Evin

[@martayharmay]

@@BloodontheClocktower Thanks!

[@zachgaskins3731]

And what rough beast of a container ship, its hour come round at last, slouches towards Baltimore to be unloaded?

[@robdrew376]

And if I drive the half hour to Baltimore, can they just hand it to me right off the ship?

[@lichofthewoods1132]

great reference, genuinely laughed out loud when i saw this

[@jellis]

Was that a rare Teri appearance? Setting between Tom and Dom?

[@lauraniun3092]

I think it was

[@11th-lemon]

How likely is a Storyteller to make a balanced rolelist by randomly picking characters from the script? If scripts aren't perfectly balanced, I assume there are things one should be cautious of. I'm worried I might make the list unbalanced when I storytell. Same goes for giving info to a librarian or an investigator.

[@randomer5555]

It would be fine to randomly pick characters, the scripts are balanced

[@BloodontheClocktower]

Hey @Joaco, @Randomer555 is correct here that the base three scripts are extremely well-balanced, with Trouble Brewing the most balanced of them all. You can select the roles randomly for each game and it'll shake out fine. As you become more experienced as a Storyteller you might notice one or two substitutions you could make to try and achieve particular things in a game, but it's not anything you need to do. However, for players playing for the first time, there are some recommended setups (all 8-player games) to achieve particular types of games that introduce them to various concepts in BOTC, which are fine to use so long as your players haven't all read the rulebooks. (Players can read the rulebooks if they want, but only the Storyteller ever needs to.) The Trouble Brewing recommended setups are in the main rulebook, and the recommended setups for Sects & Violets and Bad Moon Rising are in the respective almanacs. If your game has more than eight players, you can pick one of the set-ups and add extra roles as necessary. - Evin

[@11th-lemon]

@@BloodontheClocktower Ah, that's good to know. I was confused by the suggestion of evenly distributing townsfolk. An unrelated question: what happens if a baron runs out of outsiders to add? (for example, in a 6 player no greater joy game).

[@randomer5555]

@@11th-lemon I believe it 'caps out' so the Baron would only add 1 additional Outsider in No Greater Joy

[@BloodontheClocktower]

Yep, @Randomer555 is correct - if the Baron runs out of Outsiders to add, just add as many as you can and stop there. - Evin

[@Env1ve]

If there was a polish edition i would pay whatever it takes😅

[@hiiistrex2838]

2:08 yeah so I've played way more S&V than TB so I actually ended up getting way more comfortable storytelling S&V as my first game. Didn't even make any mistakes my first game